Almighty Skuld
by zeroIQ
Summary: After what appears to be a bug outbreak, Skuld wakes up in a world very different from what she remembered. Especially considering that she's apparently not only an adult now, but also the leader of Heavens too. With so many questions, she sets off to find out what's going on and solve this mystery. [one-shot]
As a response to HotelKatz's Skuld world challenge 2016, I've decided to give it a try and make this special one-shot story that's primarily focused on the apparently least famous of the three Norns: Skuld.

This is meant to be a standalone story that only requires the reader to be familiar with the manga and while there might be some references to some of my other stories here and there, there's no need to know anything about them in order to understand what's going on here.

While this is by definition the shortest of my stories as of yet, I hope that you find it as enjoyable as some of my other ones.

I do not own the Ah! Megami sama / Oh! My Goddess series.

* * *

Asgard, one of the nine realms in existence and home of the celestials who along with their demonic counterparts ruled over all known cosmos in a never ending battle of supremacy. And while it used to be a literal conflict in the past, nowadays, such violent chapters of history were thought to be officially over.

Instead, life was a lot more peaceful and carefree, yet none of the celestial capital's denizens were totally without responsibilities; far from it as a matter of fact. At the heart of all operations was Yggdrasil, a supercomputer that occupied one of the biggest structures in the entire realm and was tasked to maintain all the lower realms, including the one inhabited by the mortals. As a natural result of its sheer complexity, an entire army of celestials were assigned to take care of its smooth operation, ranging from the system administrators to the system operators and even the lowly debuggers who along with the various technicians maintained the colossal computer and ensured that life on the three dimensional world was feasible.

One such debugger was Skuld, also known as the Norn of the future and while young she was in charge of the whole debugging team, a feat that made others envy her, even if she thought that it was more of a curse than a blessing. Dealing with the pesky entities known as bugs which resembled something between a spider and a weird looking bunny was a boring and occasionally frustrating ordeal as the blasted things were multiplying like… well, bunnies. As a matter of fact, there were moments when all it needed was for someone to blink and instead of one, they would find two of them standing on the same spot and if left unchecked, a whole horde would soon emerge.

"Fall back! Those buggers are after us!"

Such was the case today, when a seemingly routine inspection had turned into a nightmare scenario. It all started by a _single_ bug that somehow managed to pass through the numerous layers of defenses set up by the little Norn and materialized in one of the numerous server rooms that surrounded the main Yggdrasil system. Yet by the time Skuld and her team arrived at the scene, the room was _packed_ with those things to the point where the door gave away; and not just any old door, but a _reinforced, blast resistant_ one that was designed to hold back demonic assaults.

Tossing a few explosives that were only meant as a way of stopping them on their tracks, Skuld tried to buy some time for reinforcements to arrive, namely the Valkyries. And while dealing with bugs wasn't part of their duties, this was declared an emergency and as such it was necessary to get as many deities available to contain the outbreak before it escalated to the point of no return.

"How long for the Fighting Wings to deploy?" asked Skuld over her shoulder as she kept throwing her bombs at the fast approaching mob of bugs.

"They should be here in a few seconds," replied one of the goddesses that assisted her in this task, before things went out of control.

"Good! I don't think we can hold them back for too…" started Skuld, when a rumbling noise caught her attention. Turning towards the hallway once again, the young goddess could only stare in utter horror as a literal tsunami of bugs rushed towards their position. They were so many, that despite the vast scale of the corridor, the bugs were tightly packed to the point where they could no longer move in any other direction than forward and right at the path of the petrified deities who could only watch the white wall of furry entities approach them.

"This sucks!"

XXX

"Ugh… what happened?"

Rolling around on her bed, Skuld tried to recall what had taken place and more importantly, how she found herself in her bedroom. In her mind, the worst case scenario was that the bug outbreak was running wild and the Valkyries had to remove her from the site after they sealed the location; providing that such a thing was even possible.

"You overslept, that's all, dear. Now try to get up and let us getting started with today's agenda."

Blinking, the sleepy goddess recognized the voice and turning to her side, she found her mother, which by itself was an unusual sight. Most of the time, Ansuz was busy taking care of the celestial bureaucracy as her husband's second in command, and that was one of the reasons why Skuld spent most of her life around her sisters. "Uh… mom? How come you're not… um… busy?"

"Technically speaking, I am, but without you to sign some papers, I had to leave the office and try to find you," said the teal haired goddess as she approached her sleepy daughter and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Look, I'm not trying to reprimand you, not that it's my place to criticize my boss. Still, I want you to take your time to adjust to your new job and try to get some rest. It's painfully obvious that you're lacking the necessary sleep and once we're done, I want you to spend the rest of the day away from that office."

"What are you talking about?..." was all the goddess of the future could say, as she struggled to understand what was going on here. One moment, she was facing a literal wall of bugs and the next she was having this surreal talk with her mother. More importantly, she couldn't explain what possessed the elder goddess to call Skuld her boss.

However, as soon as finally managed to get up from her bed, the Norn realized one very important detail: she could stare her mother straight in the eyes. Of course aside from the possibility that Ansuz had somehow shrunk, Skuld had to face the other potential scenario and looking down, her suspicions were verified by the pair of mounds that she had only seen on her sisters. "Hey, I've got!..."

"Yes, you're clearly _bigger_ than I am; Belldandy even," said Ansuz with an annoyed huff, feeling that this wasn't the time for such kind of jokes. "Now can we…"

"No, I mean, I wasn't this big a moment ago! And I don't just mean my chest…" started Skuld as she struggled to figure out what could've turned her into an adult. " _My whole body changed!_ "

"Are you sure feeling okay?" asked Ansuz, as her previous annoyance was now replaced with worry, seeing that her daughter acted in such a strange manner. It almost felt as if she had no memory of what had taken place for quite a while and reverted back to her childhood, which was more than enough to raise a few red flags.

"Aside from turning into an adult over… night? Or was it a whole day? I'm not sure anymore!" said Skuld as she scratched her head. "All I remember was dealing with some bugs and then, you're here waking me up."

"Oh dear, this can't be good. Alright, we've got to deal with this, so, I'll have to announce that you're unavailable for the rest of the day, before we establish that there's nothing wrong with you," said Ansuz as she turned and started to type a message on her personal communicator.

"Huh? What's so important about a debugger to require an actual announcement?" asked the baffled goddess. "I mean, we just need to inform that I can't go to work, right?"

"Just go back to bed and don't worry too much about it. I'll even get your sisters to come and visit you, so, try to relax and everything's going to be alright!"

"But!..."

"No arguments, dear. Just do as I say for now, until the healers come and take a look on you."

Letting a sigh, Skuld decided to stop arguing with her mother and go back to her bed, hoping that this was all a bizarre dream and soon, Urd would wake her up in her typically rude manner by tickling her nose with her hair.

"Okay, mother. I hope this will get settled soon enough."

XXX

"I've told you not to go too crazy with your new post, didn't I? I know that you're trying to do your best and all that, but overworking yourself sick isn't a solution, either."

"Uh… I was expecting a healer, actually," was all that Skuld managed to say as she stared at the goddess who visited her. Sure, she _did_ wear the same traditional robes of a healer, even though there were some pretty non standard modifications to the outfit that exposed a lot of skin and would've made most of her colleagues shake their head in disapproval. However, the most striking detail about her physician was her identity and for a while, Skuld tried to figure out if this was all a prank or if her eldest sister was indeed the one who was supposed to check her.

"Excuse me, but what do you think I am?" said Urd with a raised eyebrow, pointing at the white robes she was wearing, even though those were never supposed to have a neckline that reached all the way to her navel.

"Trouble incarnate…" muttered the brunette goddess with a tired sigh. "Look, can't you take things seriously for once? Mom thinks I've lost my memory or something along those lines, even if I'm sure that there's nothing wrong with me. So, I need a professional's opinion."

"Well, if you can't recall anything that happened during the last few centuries, I'd say that's definitely not normal. And I _am_ a professional so, stop fighting it and let me take a better look at you, Skuld."

"Wait… for real?"

"Yes. I mean, you're the _Daitenkaicho_ for crying out loud! Why is it so hard to accept that I'm a healer?"

"Um… well… I knew that you've always enjoyed messing around with potions and stuff like that, but… I would've expected you to become an alchemist," said Skuld, scratching her chin in thought. "Besides, second class goddesses are most likely to be assigned as nurses, not doctors."

" _Wrong!_ " said Urd with a big grin, producing her card from her robes. "Just take a look at this!"

Blinking, Skuld had to read the card's inscription twice before she actually accepted what was written on it. "F-First class goddess?... First category?... Unlimited? W-When did that happen?"

"A while ago, but that's not what's important here. I am a _first class goddess_ now and while not being to lie sucks big time, it does have some nice perks," said Urd with a wink. "Although, to be honest with you, I'm still an administrator and only work as a healer whenever I feel like it."

"Hold on! Could it be that… I'm your _first_ patient?!" asked the worried goddess, as she last bit of her sister's sentence did little to reassure her.

"Details, details… Don't sweat about little things like…"

"It's really important! I've got no intention to let you mess around with me, unless you know what you're doing!' said Skuld, edging away from the Norn of the past.

"Hmph! I see… you're going to be the difficult patient, huh?" Reaching for her robes once again, she brought out a small box and offered her sister a reassuring smile; at least as much as she could, considering that her sibling was well aware of the perils one faced whenever Urd's concoctions were involved. "Look, I'll just give you one of those Revitalizers to enhance your body's energy and run a few simple tests on you. There's nothing to worry about at all! I'll even buy you some ice cream once we're done!"

"There's a catch, I can feel it…" said Skuld after staring at her sister for several long seconds, searching her face for any signs of dishonesty.

"Nope! It's just a routine checkup, so stop being a big baby and turn around for a moment."

"Huh? Why should I do that?" asked the now worried Skuld, as she didn't like that smile on Urd's face.

"Oh, it's nothing important… Just trust me and…"

"Don't give me that excuse! You're up to something and I've got no intention to allow it unless you tell me _exactly_ what you're going to do!"

"You're _so_ difficult… you big crybaby!" said Urd with a frustrated huff. "Like I said, you need to take a Revitalizer, so stop arguing and panties down, Skuld."

" _Hold on! P-Panties down?! Y-You mean it's?!..._ " shouted the terrified goddess as nearly jumped out of her bed.

"A suppository." said Urd, trying her best not to laugh at her sister's overreaction. "It can't be helped since it tastes so bad, that this is the best option; trust me on that, Skuld. I've tried one of those pills and it took me hours to get rid of that horrible taste from my mouth. But aside from that little setback, it's a very effective medicine overall."

" _No way in Hell!_ "

"Well...We'll see about that…"

XXX

"How did it go?"

Looking up from her magazine, Ansuz watched Skuld match towards her, while a soot covered and disheveled Urd followed right after her little sister.

"Perfect! Now, let's try to do something more constructive than playing stupid games!" said the irate goddess of the future, offering a glare at her fellow Norn.

"But… what about you? Are you okay?" tried Ansuz, as her daughter avoided to answer her original question.

"She's fine, as far as I can tell," said Urd in her sister's place, while ignoring the pointed look she was getting from Skuld. "It may sound strange, but, I can't find anything out of the ordinary with her."

"Isn't there anything we can do? I'm happy that she's not sick, although… she can't remember anything!"

"I actually tried to give her some Revitalizers to give her an energy boost…" started Urd, only to have her youngest sibling who stuck her tongue at her. "But, she's way too stubborn to see what's the best for her."

"I don't need those them! And I said I'm perfectly fine!" Crossing her arms, the youngest of the Norns pouted in a rather childish manner despite her physical age, while the two other goddesses could only shake their heads knowing how futile it was to try and change her mind once she was like this.

"In that case, you should be feeling well enough to go on a small tour around Asgard, right Skuld?" asked Urd with a grin, getting her sister's attention.

"Huh? I suppose so… Why?"

"Like you said, you're fine, or at the very least… physically fine. Still, that leaves the whole matter with your memories and let's just face it; you can't go to work like that," said Urd, raising an eyebrow. "Instead, we can try to make you remember anything by seeing some familiar faces. Who knows? That might do the trick, actually."

Pausing to think about it, Skuld had to admit that it sounded almost reasonable, especially considering that it was one of Urd's ideas. Even if she still had some reservations about the whole amnesia thing, Skuld was more than intrigued to see how things had changed during the last couple of centuries that she allegedly couldn't recall.

"Hm… I think it sounds reasonable enough. How about we look around and see how everyone's doing?"

"That's an excellent idea," said Ansuz with a smile, turning to Urd. "However, you'll have to excuse me, since someone needs to take care of Asgard while Skuld's unavailable."

"Got it. I'll give her the tour, then," said Urd as she snapped her fingers and changed her clothes from the medic outfit she wore to her standard goddess robes, and much to Skuld's shock, those were actually far more concealing than what she could recall. While it was her favorite purple dress, Urd had apparently changed her neckline into a far more typical one, which reached as low as everyone else's, making Skuld worry about her sister's state of mind.

"Hey… what's up with that outfit?"

"Huh? What do you mean by that? It looks pretty fine to me," said Urd with a blink as he quickly inspected her clothes for anything out of the ordinary.

"It looks… well… almost _modest_ ," said the goddess of the future, trying to figure out what was going on here. It was highly unusual for her playful sibling to wear anything that concealed too much skin and while she didn't go as far as Peorth, it was almost unheard for the half goddess to dress conservatively.

"Thanks for making me sound boring," came the somewhat sarcastic reply, as her sister rolled her eyes. "I've got to pick Brunhild from the daycare and I don't want to look out of place with my normal clothes."

"Who?" asked Skuld, as she failed to recognize that name.

"My daughter. She's…"

" _You have a daughter?!_ " nearly screamed the shocked Norn of the future, as she stared at her sibling in wonder.

"Yes, _auntie_ Skuld," said the half goddess with a wink, enjoying Skuld's stunned expression. "She really wanted to spend some time with her aunts and this is going to be the best opportunity. Actually, after we pick Brunhild up we can visit Bell and let her play with the little one, too!"

"You're a mother?" asked Skuld, her mind still refusing to accept what she had been told. It was too far fetched to believe that the wilder of her siblings would be the type to suddenly wish to have a family.

"I think we established that, already," said Urd with a groan, trying to convince her sister who apparently forgot everything about her niece too.

"How?!"

"The usual way, actually. I got a bit busy for a couple of nights and…"

"Whoa! Too much information! I didn't mean that!" said Skuld, much to Urd's amusement as she saw the fierce blush on the youngest Norn's cheeks.

"Well, you're the one who wanted to know. Anyway, I think we should get moving, since Brunhild probably waits for me to pick her up."

"Alright, let's go. I don't want to delay you, and besides, getting some fresh air would do me good," said Skuld, trying to hide her own curiosity as she wanted to see how the most troublesome of the Norns interacted with her kid.

'This is going to be interesting… But seriously!... Who would've thought she'd get a family. I wonder… is oneesama a mother too? I suppose I'll have to wait and find out later when we meet her.'

XXX

Located right in the middle of the celestial capital to allow everyone to drop their kids before they went to their works, the daycare was amongst the most important buildings in Heaven. Yet, unlike most others, it was primarily built to provide not only a living space for the celestial children and their caretakers, but also to look like a fun place, where the little deities would like to spend some time without missing their parents too much.

As a result, the whole place incorporated a lot of gardens and parks around it with a few even integrated into the complex itself, allowing the kids to have enough space to play their games. Still, one particular child was simply waiting patiently near the complex's entrance, instead of spending more time with the others.

"Don't tell me you've got in a fight, _again_."

Looking up, the little goddess' purple eyes light up at the sight of her mother and without delay, the blonde girl rushed towards her with hands extended.

" _Mama!_ "

Smiling as she picked her up, Urd kissed the little goddess' cheek, making Skuld stare at the rather unlikely scene that unfolded before her very eyes. While not cruel or uncaring, the eldest of the Norns wasn't as eager to display such emotions in this particular manner and preferred to support her sisters from the sidelines or by using her potions and even a lie or two. This on the other hand was something right up Belldandy's alley and while it did make Skuld smile, the goddess of the future still found it hard to believe that, Urd was actually acting like that.

"Stop trying to act cute and tell me what happened," said the half goddess as she saw her daughter's attempt to avoid the whole topic by feigning ignorance.

"Well…the usual…" said Brunhild with a pout. "Some stuck up brat said that I wasn't a real goddess…"

Letting a sigh, Urd was actually that she was a bit older when she first came to Heavens and by that time most of the young celestials around her did make an effort not to say things like that right in front of her; although the same couldn't be said about what they whispered behind her back. "For the thousandth time, why can't they realize that _I'm_ the one who's half a goddess? You on the other hand _appear_ to be mostly a goddess and your demonic inheritance shouldn't be as prominent from their perspective. Didn't you try to explain that, once and for all?"

Giving her mother an empty look, Brunhild tilted her head as she hardly understood half of what she was being told. "Um… nope… I just told her that she's jealous because my mom has much bigger boobies than hers!"

Even Urd was taken aback by her daughter's bold statement, let alone Skuld who seemed rather shocked to hear such words from someone as young as her niece. ' _Boobies?!_ Honestly… what are they teaching kids these days?!'

However as soon as Urd recovered from the initial surprise, she offered Brunhild a big smile, much to Skuld's confusion. "That's my daughter! You made mommy proud today!"

"Yay! I love you mama!" said the blonde goddess as she hugged Urd even tighter than before.

"Hold on a freaking second!" said Skuld, causing both of them to turn to her. "This isn't how this is supposed to go in a situation like this!"

"Huh?"

"Not _huh!_ I'm serious here! After changing your clothes to something less… revealing, I thought you kind of matured a bit," protested Skuld, making her sister check her clothes again.

"Oh! You thought that I'm wearing these on a regular basis?" said Urd with a giggle. "That's only for picking up Brunhild! I've gotten tired of seeing the other kids' fathers drool whenever I show up and I thought that this would solve a few of those problems."

"Yeah! They were almost like you auntie Skuld, whenever you see ice-cream!" added the grinning Brunhild.

'I give up… Like mother, like daughter… and probably like the _grandmother_ too!'

Letting out a sigh, Skuld could only shake her head as she wondered how worse things would become when this tyke grew up and turn into a replica of her mom. One Urd was more than enough for her to handle and the prospect of having to deal with another made her think that if this was the future, it was certainly a bleak one.

"Hey, speaking about ice-cream, how about we go and get some for ourselves?" said Urd, causing both her daughter and Skuld to smile.

"That's the best idea you had all day long!" said the Norn of the future as she started to head towards one of the few shops in Heavens that specialized in ice-cream, before Urd stopped her.

"There's no need to go in that direction, Skuld. I know where you're going and that particular shop closed down a while ago."

"Eh?... No way! They had the best ice-cream in Heavens!"

"Don't get your panties in a bunch kiddo! They've simply moved to a much larger property at the very heart of our city and it's actually way closer to Bell's agency."

"Really? How come? I mean… in most cases that's reserved for office space and shops that sell magical artifacts and the like."

"Well… who do you think the current Daitenkaicho is?" said Urd with a wink, making her sister blink before realization settled in.

"Oh… I see!" said Skuld with a proud smile. "In that case, lead the way! I want to see what flavors they serve here!"

XXX

'Who knew that there was a green tea ice cream flavor? Too bad it was kind of bitter thought. Oh well, at least I had five more servings of everything else to make up for that!'

Content from the not so short visit to what turned out to be the best ice cream shop in Asgard, Skuld felt positively giddy, although that was only partially due to her favorite delicacy. As she started to get used to the idea of having a niece, the Norn of the future tried to get closer to the little goddess and see what she was really like.

Despite Brunhild's obvious similarities to Urd and even Hild, Skuld was surprised to find out that the young goddess was looking up to her and wanted to become as successful as she was when she grew up, which in reality left Skuld with mixed feelings. On one hand it was pretty flattering to have others use her as a role model of sorts, as Brunhild wasn't idolizing her nearly as much as she used to do with Belldandy, but on the other hand, it suddenly made her feel a lot of pressure on her shoulders.

'Is that how big sister felt towards me? And Brunhild isn't even going as far as I did with Belldandy, yet it still makes me very self conscious about what I do around her. I mean… what if I do something bad and she thinks it's okay for her to copy me, too? After all, if she's anything like her mom, I can easily see her throwing spells all over the place. Well… not that Urd doesn't do that on her own, but seeing me do the same could make matters even worse. Convincing her to show more restraint will be much more difficult and…'

Skuld actually recalled how easily her short temper got the best of her and she ended throwing explosives at anyone who annoyed her, with her latest favorite target being Keiichi who monopolized her big sister's attention. Her thoughts' suddenly came to a stop when she realized a very important detail about the entire situation, and given that she was apparently in the far future and they were just about to visit Belldandy, it felt better if she asked about it right now instead of waiting to do that in the presence of the middle Norn.

"Uh… Urd? What happened to Keiichi?"

However, unlike any of the reactions she had expected from the half goddess as she and her daughter walked along one of Asgard's main streets, Urd seemed to be utterly confused. "Who?"

"You're kidding me, right?" said Skuld with a frown. "Keiichi! you know... the guy who wished for Belldandy to stay with him forever…"

"What? When did _that_ happen?" asked the confused goddess of the past. "And why didn't anyone told me anything about it?"

"Yay! Spicy story!" said Brunhild bouncing up and down, despite her mother's baffled expression that almost mirrored Skuld's.

"B-But… that happened a long time ago! I was still a kid and we all went to the mortal realm and stayed there for years! Don't tell me that you forgot about it!"

"Are you sure feeling okay? I mean… memory loss is one thing, but… delusions too?" asked Urd with a raised eyebrow.

"Hey! I'm not delusional! It happened!" insisted Skuld, pointing an accusatory finger at her elder sister. "You're just lying!"

"I'm a first class goddess."

'How is it possible that she's got no idea who Keiichi is? What's going on here anyway?' Scratching her head, Skuld had to admit that she had a point, yet there was something really off here. "Uh…. right… I forgot about that. But, I'm definitely sure that I'm not making things up here! I know that he was short, with thick eyebrows and a forgettable face… as he once told my big sister, but, I can't believe that you actually forgot about him!"

"Look, if you insist, then how about we ask Bell and even check her client list?" suggested Urd, as she noticed how determined her little sister was.

"Very well. Let's see who's right here."

XXX

"Thank you everyone for your hard work today! Please have some fun on your free time!"

Smiling at her subordinates as their shift finally came to an end, Belldandy recalled her days being a wish granter herself. It felt almost as if it was yesterday that the Norn of the present sat in front one of the terminals and reviewed profiles waiting for the chance to meet one of them in person. Contrary to common belief, this job was actually a lot harder as it seemed to be and the primary reason she accepted the position of the agency's manager was more than just a typical response to someone getting a promotion. For her, it was more important to make sure that her subordinates did their job properly and didn't see this as an opportunity to slack off while watching the daily life of mortals.

"Auntie Bell!"

Looking up from her shift report, Belldandy smiled at the sight of Brunhild as she ran towards her and nearly tackled the brunette in the process. "Hello there little one! How was your day?"

"Great! Mama and auntie Skuld took me for ice cream and they even said I could play with you!"

"Oh?" Belldandy's initial surprise to hear that her little sister found the time to hang around with her niece and Urd was quickly replaced with a nostalgic feeling for the old days when they all lived together. While they did talk to each other on a daily basis, their jobs prevented them from spending too much time together and that was particularly true in Skuld's case. As the newly appointed Daitenkaicho, the Norn of the future was still struggling to get used to the busy schedule that came with that position and as a result, she didn't see her often anymore.

"Yep! They were right behind me, but they're too slow!"

"Who's slow, you little troublemaker?" asked Urd as she and Skuld approached them, with the latter looking at the middle Norn in wonder.

"Bleh! Slow, slow, slow!" said Brunhild, sticking her tongue at her mother who simply returned the favor despite her age.

Smiling at the sight of them, Belldandy turned to Skuld who was still staring at her curiously and for a moment the brunette goddess wondered what was wrong. "Greeting my lady. It's quite the honor to see you in person."

"Huh?" Blinking, Skuld struggled to understand why her big sister was addressing her in such a formal manner, until she remembered that she was supposed to be the leader of Asgard for some reason. "Oh, there's no need to be this formal, oneesama! I'm just happy to see you!"

"Oneesama? It's been a while since you called me that, Skuld," said Belldandy with an uncertain look on her face, eying over at Urd for some kind of an explanation.

"Actually… that's a long story, Bell. How about you make some tea and we can all discuss what happened?"

"Yes! I'd love that!"

Several minutes later, the three Norns plus Brunhild were sitting around a table Belldandy had for serving tea whenever a guest arrived, or she wished to have a discussion with her subordinates and needed something to make them more comfortable.

"Hm… that's quite the situation I'm afraid."

"Don't worry too much about it onee-... I mean… Bell. I'm sure that there's nothing wrong with me and everything will be resolved soon enough, but… I've really wanted to ask you something," said Skuld, taking a sip from her green tea to calm herself down. After all, she wondered if mentioning anything about that particular contract was a great idea or she was just about to remind her of some potentially painful memories. On their way to the Goddess Relief Office, she pondered whether the reason behind Urd's ignorance about Keiichi wasn't because she forgot about him, but due to deleting all memories about the mortal. After all, given that he must've passed away already, perhaps they resorted to such an extreme measure to make Belldandy move on, and her current decision to bring up the subject was a big mistake.

"Yes? What is it, Skuld?"

"Um… do you happen to know anyone by the name… Morisato Keiichi?" asked the hesitant goddess, watching her sister's expression for any reaction and much to her shock, not even the slightest hint of recognition was evident in her face.

"Not really. At the very least, I don't think I can remember anyone that goes by that name. But, I can check my clients list from back when I was granting wishes myself. Hold on a moment." Bringing up the holographic display of her datapad, the brunette quickly ran a search of all her previous contracts. However, even after a few attempts to find that name amongst her clients, no results came up and eventually had to give up, turning back to Skuld who was anxiously waiting for a response. "I'm afraid that I don't have him in my list. Why? Did anything happen to Mr. Morisato?"

"No way…" Up to this point, Skuld was toying with the idea that she had somehow ended up in the future or even the remote possibility that she had lost part of her memories. However, at this point it was more than evident that there was something seriously wrong here, as the client records of Heaven weren't modified under any circumstances. Even if they wanted to delete their memories of Keiichi because of his inevitable fate, his wish should've been registered in the system no matter what they wanted to do in order to cope with his loss. 'How is that even possible? I mean… this can't be the future, right? It's more likely… no… that's just crazy!'

"Told you! See? I was right about it," said Urd, despite her somewhat concerned frown as she noticed Skuld's shocked expression.

"Skuld dear, are you feeling alright?" asked Belldandy as she too felt her sister's distress.

"Huh? Oh, I'm… fine!" said Skuld, wondering if that was a lie or not and whether such a thing was forbidden now that she was the Daitenkaicho. However, she soon decided to stop worrying about that and instead focus about her primary problem; what was going on in this place. 'Perhaps, I should go and check father's... I mean… my terminal and see if I can find out a bit more about what's wrong here. With my elevated permissions, I'm bound to get all the information there is, unlike what's available to the public.'

"Still…"

"It's alright, Bell! I'm probably confused about something. Don't think too much about it!"

Sharing a look, the two other Norns had to admit that this was a rather obvious attempt to reassure them, but given that they had no idea of what she was talking about, there was no way to ask more details about the mysterious mortal she mentioned earlier.

Skuld on the other hand felt more intrigued by what changes had occurred in Belldandy's life. Leaving the whole topic about Keiichi for now, the goddess of the future had to admit that she wanted to find more about her beloved big sister and as such, she decided to give it a try and ask her. "Um… you know, Bell… I kind of well… don't remember a few things and…"

"Yes, Urd mentioned that a few minutes ago," said Belldandy in an effort to leave that other topic behind. "Is there something you wish to know?"

"There is, but… I don't want to sound like a nosy sister and…"

"Please don't say something like that, Skuld. Those are some special circumstances and as such, you shouldn't hesitate to ask anything."

"Well… I was wondering if, I… had another niece or nephew?"

Blinking, Belldandy seemed lost for a moment, before she realized what her sister meant by that. "Hm… no, I'm not in a relationship and neither I've got any children; if that's what you're asking."

"Really? Not a single relationship?" asked Skuld despite the pointed look she was receiving from Urd for being too curious.

"I never really had the time, to be totally honest with you. I had a few gods ask me out, but it never really worked in the long run," said Belldandy with a sigh. "Most of the times, we would go on a date or two, and then… nothing. I focused too much on my job, while my dates wished me to spend more time with them and if that wasn't enough, I preferred the slow and steady approach that… isn't too popular these days. In the end, most of them gave up, although in all honesty, I don't blame them."

For some reason, Skuld was having a lot of trouble trying to figure out what to feel about all that. Up to that point in her life, anyone who threatened to take her beloved big sister was a pervert she needed to chase away; especially that Keiichi who even dared to make such an audacious wish. However, the moment she saw Urd interact with Brunhild, it was hard for her not to feel happy for them and the idea that, Belldandy never got to experience that was kind of upsetting. Even more, with that attitude it was dubious that her big sister would even get into a relationship at all, or at the very least not dot a long period of time and that felt even worse for Skuld.

It was apparent to her that all of them were busy to a certain degree and as such, out of all three Norns, Belldandy must've been the most lonely. Urd had her daughter to raise, Skuld had the chance to work with their mother, while the goddess of the present had nobody to talk to on a daily basis' aside from her coworkers that is.

"I see… Just don't give up, okay?" In all seriousness that sounded pretty weak and more likely a stereotypical piece of advice one comes up whenever they wanted to sound helpful, only to avoid saying the truth; that it wasn't really their problem and didn't want to bother with it. Of course that wasn't the case with Skuld, but at the same time, she felt utterly helpless to come up with a better response.

"Auntie Bell! Can we play now?"

Turning to her niece, Belldandy couldn't help but smile at the little goddess who was apparently getting tired of having to wait for the grownups to talk for what felt like an eternity to her and knowing that she shared the same enthusiasm with Urd, the brunette decided that it was better to play some games with her now, before the child decided to find something fun on her own. "Now, you'll have to excuse me, but I've kept this young lady waiting for too long."

"It's alright! Have some fun you two!" said Skuld with a big smile as the two goddesses left them to find something interesting to do.

"What do you think?" asked Urd after observing her sisters' interaction for quite a while.

"Honestly? I kind of regret a lot of things I've done as a… kid, I guess. I always wanted to have Belldandy's attention and even made her the center of my little world, but… That didn't leave her enough time to create her… own world too. I don't know if that's even the proper word to explain this, but when Keiichi made that stupid wish, I really got jealous and worried; that she would leave me alone."

"That name again. It seems that… whoever that guy was, he… liked Belldandy?"

"Yes, that's… correct and it was the same for her too. He was a bit dorky and too shy for his own good, although he was a very nice person and someone… Belldandy really loved."

"Sounds like her, even if I'm still unconvinced about that story of yours. You were a bit possessive back then, but things had changed over the decades and you've even tried to get her a date recently."

"Really? What happened?" asked the curious Skuld as she had some trouble envisioning herself trying to get a date for her big sister.

"The guy you picked tried to ask you out instead."

" _What?! That!… that!... Who was it?_ "

"Calm down! You've already blasted him sky high, there's no need to do it again," said Urd worrying that her sister would unleash her wrath on some god without any idea of just how powerful she currently is. Given that she apparently thinks that she's her younger self without most of her powers accessible, such an outburst could be catastrophic. "Instead of that, why don't you try to do something a bit more constructive?"

"Like what?"

"Well, you seem pretty fixated about that Morisato guy, so, why don't you go and check your terminal about him? From your office, you should've even more access to the entire Yggdrasil system instead of what we can currently do from Bell's."

"That's… not a bad idea actually," admitted Skuld as she thought about it. As the Daitenkaicho, she should've unlimited access to any file on the system and as such, this could be the best opportunity to get a few answers. "Although… what about Bell and Brunhild? They're probably waiting to find me back here when…"

"Don't worry about them, Skuld. Just go and find your answers, as I can see that it's something really important for you," said Urd, placing her hands on her sister's shoulders. "You can meet us in the Yggdrasil control room after you're done there."

"Okay then... I'll see you later," said Skuld with a reluctant nod, turning around to head to what she remembered as her father's office. However, before she left Belldandy's agency, Skuld paused for a moment and looked towards her niece while she played tag with her big sister, who seemed to be much happier now than she was moments ago.

'I'll find out what happened to Keiichi, even if I have to search the whole system.'

XXX

While celestial architecture integrated functionality with aesthetics, the Daitenkaicho's office pushed those design principles even further than most other workplaces in Asgard. As such, it never failed to impress Skuld whenever she had to visit her father while he was working, although she had to admit that despite the familiar feeling, some things had apparently changed when she took over. From minor details like the robotic vacuum cleaners that kept the marble floor absolutely spotless to the towering mecha standing next to the corridor's columns, each armed with a great array of offensive options.

'Wow… did I make all of them? They look like something out of a manga! So cool!...'

Standing outside the door, the brunette goddess was about to knock but then stopped, remembering that this was her office; a fact that was still a bit too hard to accept. However, when she saw the secretary sitting behind the desk in the office's antechamber, she came to a stop. For whatever reason, Skuld was almost certain that she had seen her somewhere, although she couldn't quite say where.

"Mistress!" said the dark haired lady as she smiled brightly at the somewhat surprised goddess, getting up from her seat to properly greet her. And while that wasn't unusual for a secretary to do, the brunette woman quickly crossed the distance between them and gave her a tight hug. "Ansuz-sama told me that you weren't going to come to work today! Are you sure it's okay to be here?"

"I… I'm feeling alright…" said the stunned goddess as she wasn't sure how to react in a situation like this. Still, the more she looked at her, the more Skuld was certain that she knew her and only when she noticed that this individual wasn't actually emanating the same energy as a goddess did she actually realized who she really was. "Wait!... _Sigel?!_ "

"Yes, Skuld-sama?" asked the gynoid, releasing her creator from her tight embrace. "Is there something wrong?"

"No, I mean… this _is_ you, right? You… look quite different than I remember," said Skuld, taking a step back to check her gynoid. While she did retain the same basic features from her old self, this version of Sigel no longer appeared to be a little girl; instead she seemed to be a fully grown adult and the craftsmanship behind her new body almost made it impossible for anyone to tell that she had an artificially made body to begin with. Indeed, the gynoid appeared to be a woman in her early to mid twenties with long dark hair and a body type that was slightly reminiscent of Urd's.

"Oh, of course! You've upgraded me with a much more advanced chassis a long time ago," said Sigel with a smile. "And with my latest modifications I can truly say that I now possess an anatomically correct body!"

"Uh… an anatomically correct... _what?_ " asked the somewhat overwhelmed goddess as she wasn't sure if her future self was becoming more of a perfectionist or… a pervert.

"A much more realistic body; one that you've put so much effort making, Skuld-sama!" said Sigel with a dreamy look on her face.

'At least certain aspects about her personality haven't changed at all. That's actually nice, since it means that the old Sigel is still there and not just replaced with a newer version.' Scratching her chin, Skuld suddenly remembered yet another one of her most famous creations and decided to learn about his whereabouts. "Hey, I've nearly forgotten to ask, but what happened to Banpei? I haven't seen him since I've woken up from… well… whatever took place earlier this morning."

"Well, I'm not certain about what incident you're referring to, but, at least I can tell you that Banpei is still on guard duty out there," said Sigel, pointing in the direction of the corridor. "He's the captain of the mobile mecha suits that serve as this building's first line of defense."

"Wait… _mobile mecha suits?_ That sounds awfully similar to an anime I've watched a while ago!"

"If you mean Gundam, then I think that's exactly where you got the idea from. Those mecha out there are only mindless bodies. They need a brain, or rather, a 'pilot' in order to function and this configuration is really convenient in many ways. Not only the pilots have a much better survival rate, as they're often ejected from their combat mecha, but also, the same pilot can get into different models of suits, allowing for a much greater versatility."

"Hm… I do like that idea, actually. Maybe if I add some…" started Skuld, before she had to remind herself that she wasn't there to admire her mechanical designs. "Never mind that… Actually, I want to check something really quickly, so I…"

"Oh, can I be of any assistance, Skuld-sama?"

"Um… sure. I wanted to find some information about a human called Morisato Keiichi. I don't remember much details, but he was born in Hokkaido in the 70's and spent most of his early life in Kushiro before moving to Nekomi when he enrolled to NIT," said Skuld as she tried to recall as much information about him as she could. "Can you find anyone matching this description?"

"One moment," said Sigel as she ran a check in the system, without even having to go to her terminal. One of the most convenient things about the gynoid was that she could wirelessly interface with Yggdrasil and not only that, but she was capable of processing a vast amount of information in a mere fraction of the time it would've normally taken any celestial to do so in her place. "Out of the several mortals bearing that name, there is indeed a single one that's quite likely the individual you're referring to, Skuld-sama."

"Yes! I knew that he existed!" said the grinning goddess of the future. "So, who granted his wish? Don't tell me that Peorth got to him for some weird reason…"

"Actually, I cannot find him in any of our client lists. The only information I could acquire was from Hel," said Sigel, much to Skuld's surprise.

"I see… Well, he was a mortal and as such he must've passed away a long time from this date, but still… He got no wish?"

"No, my lady. I cannot find any evidence pointing to that. Unfortunately, since he wasn't a client his profile isn't extremely detailed, although, if you wish we could contact Hel and ask her for any specifics," said Sigel with some hesitation, given the nature of such request. "However, I must warn you that given her capricious nature there's no guarantee that she's going to offer her assistance."

" _She?_ You mean, Hel?" asked the baffled Skuld. "That's a computer, so why wouldn't it want to help?"

"Um… well, it's not exactly public knowledge but aside from the system in question, there's an actual individual that goes by the same name; and she happens to be in charge of all souls stored in that system, too," explained Sigel. "I assume that since you don't possess much of your memories, you have also forgotten about this fact."

"Hm… interesting. The more I think about it, the more it seems that this isn't exactly the same world I was previously in…" wondered the brunette goddess out loud.

"Skuld-sama?" asked the worried gynoid with a small frown. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Huh? Yes, I'm perfectly fine, Sigel. It's just… you see, my memories don't seem to match with some things I've been told since I woke up. I remember living on Earth along with my sisters and Keiichi, because he made a silly wish that caused her to stay with him forever. Still… when I talked to Urd and even oneesama, neither of them actually knew anything about him," explained Skuld with a sigh. "So, either they're right and I've imagined the whole thing, or the most likely explanation is that this… isn't my world."

"That sounds rather illogical, but, if it makes you feel better we can go and talk to this individual and settle things once and for all."

"Yes, that's exactly what I was hoping for, actually. If this Keiichi doesn't recognise me, then It's more likely that I'm not where I'm supposed to be. On the other hand, if he _does_ turn out to be the same mortal I knew, then there's something else going on here."

"But if the latter turns out to be the case, then what?" asked the worried gynoid, fearing that her creator may be experiencing a nervous breakdown from all the stress caused by her new job.

"To be frank... I honestly have no idea," admitted the goddess of the future after a short pause. "Still, I know that it's something I'll have to worry about after I'll meet Keiichi and see whether he knows me or not."

"Understood, Skuld-sama. I'll make the arrangements for a Valkyrie escort in order to visit Helheim," said Sigel with a small smile, as she tried to cheer her up.

"Hm… I don't want to attract too much attention with this visit, so can you get the minimum number of Valkyries with us? I know it's probably not recommended, but I wish to be as discreet as possible."

"In that case we can take just one Valkyrie with us; just to have a representative from the Fighting Wings during this trip," said the gynoid, pausing for a moment as she sent the request for a war goddess to wait for them in the Gate room. "It's done. Shall we go now?"

"Yes, let's get this over with."

XXX

 _Helheim_

True to most people's expectations, the land of the dead was a lifeless, barren world that lacked any feature that would've made it into a desirable place. No fauna or flora and not even natural resources of any importance made this into a world that neither gods nor demons actually wished to control; opting for some of the more hospitable and rich worlds.

Yet in an unexpected turn of events, that very disadvantage also turned it into an ideal place to set up the datacenter responsible for storing all the mortals' metadata, or souls as they were also called. Since neither of the two factions directly controlled this world, it was a far better option to build such a facility here as it eliminated the chances for either of them getting an edge over their counterparts.

The primary problem though was the remoteness of the location, which required a rather lengthy trip through the Gate and to make matters even worse, the security measures prevented anyone from teleporting straight to the installation itself. As a result, Skuld, Sigel and the lone Valkyrie that accompanied them had to travel several miles in order to reach their actual destination. Of course, for the sake of her visitor's convenience, Hel had set up a hover-train track connecting this realm's Gate room and the soul storage center, giving the goddess of the future enough time to think about her current situation, as well as stare at the Valkyrie sitting opposite of her.

"Is there something on my face, Skuld-sama?"

"No… I just wasn't expecting that you'd be the one to accompany us… Peorth," said the Norn of the future as she still found it hard to accept who this war goddess was. "And stop being this formal with me, it feels kind of weird to me."

"I suppose that it's going to take a while until you'll get used to your new title, right Skuld?" asked the goddess of the roses as she smiled at her new boss.

"No, not really. Being the Daitenkaicho all of as sudden is too much for me," said Skuld with a sigh, before she paused and studied the brunette goddess who was dressed in the traditional battle uniform worn by the Valkyries, looking for any kind of alterations to the outfit that would've matched the brunette's known… exhibitionist tendencies. "Um… Peorth? Can I ask something?"

"Yes, Skuld? What is it?"

"How come you're wearing something this… modest?"

There was a long pause as the Valkyrie tried to restrain herself from summoning a storm of prickly roses to punish her for such a comment. Attacking the Daitenkaicho was a serious offense and until the younger goddess learned how to act like a proper leader, there was little to do other than being patient with her. Still, that didn't mean that there were no means to teach Skuld a lesson without getting into some serious trouble and while most would've avoided even that; Peorth wasn't the average goddess. "I merely assumed that given the nature of this trip, I was supposed to wear something a bit more formal. Of course, if you want to see more of my body, you can just ask me take a few things off. Especially… if you wish me to wear something really sexy for your viewing pleasure."

"No! That's not necessary!" said Skuld with a blush before the rose goddess got any funny ideas and went even further than she normally would. "Although, I do want to know why you decided to become a Valkyrie. I thought that you enjoyed being a wish granter."

"I still like granting wishes, but I've felt that I needed to try something new and after a conversation with Lind we decided to switch roles for a while. So, I ended up becoming a Valkyrie as soon as I managed to get the license and she's currently acting as a system administrator," explained Peorth with a small smile. "Poor Lind is so frustrated by the lack of action, although she does seem to enjoy making friends with the sysops at the Yggdrasil center."

"Hm… that's almost hard to believe, although I still find that I'm the Daitenkaicho to be even crazier." Noticing that the train had come to a halt, Skuld prepared herself for the eventual confrontation with what could possibly solve this once and for all. "At any rate, I think we can discuss this later. For now, we need to go and see what answers, Hel can provide us."

"Of course, Skuld. I've been here once, so, this way please."

XXX

The inside of the facility itself was a truly breathtaking and yet intimidating sight to behold. Towering structures stationed next to each other, not unlike apartment buildings were housing the thousands of storage servers that contained the priceless souls of the mortals; the very record of all there was about an individual and the only thing that remained past their eventual death. In many ways it resembled a densely populated megacity, although in this case it was quite a literal necropolis where only one resident was truly alive; its very ruler and keeper of all souls: Hel.

Considering the normal lack of visitors, the arrival of the group had proven to be more than enough to get the elusive goddess' attention, and make her curious enough as to why the Daitenkaicho herself decided to visit her domain. Yet atypical as it was, such a visit proved to be a source of great amusement for her, despite the otherwise stoic nature of the dark deity.

Standing in the middle of the grand hall that ran through the heart of the facility, Hel waited for the small group to approach her. Dressed in manner that was eerily similar to the Daimakaicho, it made Skuld pause and take a double take when she was close enough to see more of her features. While the others had warned her about the physical resemblance between Hild and Hel, and by extend her eldest sister, the fact that the dark goddess was looking like a brunette version of Urd was proving to be too hard for Skuld to ignore. Even more interesting was the fact that she was a half goddess and half demoness hybrid just like the Norn of the past, which sparked a lot of rumors about her origins, although little was known other that her father was Loki and her mother had to be a demoness.

"Well, well… if it isn't our little Skuld. Or… maybe not so little anymore, as you've definitely grown up a bit, since the last time I saw you. Come closer, there's no need to fear me; despite those silly rumors about me being… Death and all that nonsense. I reassure you that death was something that preexisted my conception, just like time existed before you and your sisters were born."

"Ah… thank you. I'm kind of unsure what to say to be honest with you. I never expected you to look so similar to Urd, and…"

"I get that a lot to be honest. Relatively speaking of course, as I don't get that many visitors." Pausing to scratch her chin in thought, the half goddess' lips curved into a smirk as she recalled her last couple of guests. "Your sister thought that I was her twin that Hild had kept secret, your father that his ex had another daughter with someone else after they were separated, and… speaking of the demoness in question… Well, she thought that I was Urd's daughter."

"Eh?! Her daughter? But… didn't they knew who your father was? I mean… Loki is our adopted uncle!"

"Of course they knew! That's what made it really interesting after all," said Hel with a hint of a smile. "Poor father was being chased by Hild across Asgard. Ah… fun times..."

'What a sadist... ' thought Skuld, suppressing the urge to make any comments about the half goddess' rather… bizarre sense of humor. After all, she was there to get some answers and not start a lecture about the importance of empathy and compassion one should display towards others. So, before they got distracted by her mannerisms, Skuld produced a tiny tablet with Keiichi's information from her robes and offered it to Hel. "That's… nice. Now, to get to the actual point of my visit, I've been wondering if you could locate this mortal in your system for us."

Letting out a sigh, the bronze skinned hybrid took the tablet and quickly scanned it with her datapad in order to see who the mysterious mortal was and more importantly, why Skuld was so interested in them. "Why can't anyone ever come here for tea and cookies? Heck, I've gotten a nice new mattress that's really comfortable… So, don't be this shy, dear."

"Eh?! Thanks but… no thanks! I'm not sleeping with my… umm… cousin?" said Skuld, trying to establish how they were related, even though in reality they shared no common ancestry, given the fact that her father was adopted into the family.

"Oh? You would've fooled me," said Hel with a raised eyebrow. "I thought that you've got a thing for Belldandy, and not just on a platonic level. Although if it makes you feel better, I wasn't talking about you, but the rather gorgeous Valkyrie you've got with you."

Gritting her teeth in anger, Skuld was about to grab a bomb and blow this annoying goddess up, while Peorth hid behind Sigel; not comfortable with the way Hel was looking at her. "I'm not lusting after my own sister!"

"Hm… that's strange. I cannot seem to access his file."

"Hey! Don't ignore me after making such audacious accusations!" shouted Skuld, before she paused and realize just what Hel had just said. "Wait… you mean… Keiichi's file?"

"Yes. I've found his file, but I'm getting so many error messages that's it's not even funny. In all seriousness, I've never seen anything this… bad."

Before the worried Skuld offer any kind of reply, Sigel who was still connected to Yggdrasil started to frown as if something was really wrong there. "Mistress! We've got a serious problem back on Asgard!"

"What is it, now?"

"There's a bug outbreak and it's a pretty big one too!"

XXX

 _Yggdrasil command center_

Walking down the vast corridors of Asgard's single largest structure, Lind nodded to the sysops she encountered on her way to the main command room itself. It was a routine that still felt strange to the blue haired goddess, despite doing this for quite some time already. Even having to wear her civilian robes instead of the much more familiar combat uniform was something Lind had yet to get used to, but above all it was the vastly different protocol that the members of Yggdrasil's administration team had to follow.

Unlike the Fighting Wings where everyone addressed each other based on their rank, here things were far less strict; especially with how talkative some of her fellow goddesses were. As a matter of fact, it had almost been a shock for the Valkyrie and now system administrator when she first started working here and everyone tried to get to know her, even offering cookies and other desserts to the overwhelmed goddess. At least Urd and her daughter volunteered to… consume the offerings and much to her surprise it was the youngest of them all who managed to eat the most.

'She sure resembles her mother a lot, even though she's so young. I wonder if she's going to like these…'

Looking at the bag she was carrying, Lind smiled a bit as she wondered what they would think of her own attempt at cooking. It took her a whole afternoon, thirty kilos of burnt dough and two ovens, since the first met an… untimely demise but in the end she was triumphant. The very first batch of her very own cookies gave Lind a sense of accomplishment that she had never really expected from such a seemingly mundane task.

As a matter of fact, aside from Urd and her daughter, Lind also intended to offer some cookies to Chrono, Ere and Ex who happened to be the sysops she typically worked with on a daily basis. Finally, Lind also made a mental note to save some for Peorth when she was going to visit her at her station in Valhalla, once her shift was over.

She found it rather fascinating to see how the brunette adjusted to her new role as a member of the Fighting Wings and even more importantly, just how long she could keep doing that. Most goddesses she knew didn't believe that someone like Peorth would manage to pull something like this for too long, and even joked that if the combat drills didn't dissuade her, then the fact she had to wear _actual_ clothes would.

'I suppose that she was always a bit aggressive whenever someone annoyed her, so the life of Valkyrie doesn't seem to bother her too much I guess. Still, even then I had my doubts whether she could handle the stress or not, and if she can do it, then I must do my part too. After all, I wouldn't want to disappoint those who tried to welcome me in my new post and openly supported me.'

Smiling, Lind entered the main control room and then almost immediately sidestepped what was actually an incoming flying kick.

"ATTACK!"

Pivoting on one heel, the blue haired goddess didn't even blink as she sidestepped the threat, but not before she gave her assailant's hindquarters a resounding slap.

"Don't telegraph your attacks like that. For an ambush to work, discretion and the element of surprise is absolutely crucial."

"Ow, ow, ow!... My bum!..." Rubbing her sore spot, Brunhild jumped around the somewhat amused Valkyrie, all while her horrified aunt watched the incident aghast.

"Brunhild! You shouldn't attack goddesses like that!" said Belldandy, rushing to grab her troublesome niece before she carried on with her crazy antics. "Neesan! Say something!"

"Hm?" Looking up from her magazine, Urd glanced over at her daughter who was now pestering the blue haired goddess for a cookie. "Calm down, Bell, she just wants to play with Lind. After all, it's not like she can actually harm a battle hardened Valkyrie."

"I know that, but!... It's rude!"

"Please, I don't find it offensive at all," said Lind, getting Belldandy's attention. "If nothing else, it's nice to have someone help me stay vigilant."

"Oh, I see…"

However before Lind could extend her hand to offer some of her cookies to the middle Norn, the blaring sound of Yggdrasil's alarms caught everyone by surprise. A stream of error messages started to appear on the sysops' holographic displays while Urd decided to check what was going on from her own terminal.

"Holy sh-… schnitzel that a lot of bugs!" said the half goddess with a whistle, correcting herself before her daughter got the chance to hear her swear. "Ere! Call my sister and tell her what's going on here!"

"Her secretary already knows about this!" replied the brunette sysop as more and more error messages popped up on her terminal. "Although… I'm not sure if she's going to bet here in time! The bugs have defeated five firewalls already, and are currently attacking a nearby router!"

"Huh? What are they doing over there? Their target should've been the mortal realm not our network equipment."

"They're… they're trying to materialize here!" said the baffled Ere, while Ex signaled the general alarm. The whole complex began to enter into a lock down mode with multiple blast doors isolating the main control room from the rest of the complex, at least until reinforcements arrived.

"Here it comes!" shouted Chrono as the youngest of the sysops saw the router short and spark with what appeared to be residual demonic energy that caused a new series of sirens join the rest in what was now a cacophony that made everyone cover their ears.

"Hold on! That's not a mere bug outbreak!... It's a hostile takeover?!" Gritting her teeth, Urd prepared for the unthinkable: a demonic invasion. While it was supposedly forbidden to hack into their enemies' system, that didn't mean that there weren't those who would break the law and still attempt to pull something like that; under the impression that it they were successful and turned into heroes then nobody would dare to prosecute them. "Lind!"

"I've got it!" Summoning her trusty battle axe without even changing into her battle uniform, the Valkyrie and administrator prepared to attack whoever dared to emerged from the swirling mass of dark particles that were coming out of the router. "Step back, everyone!"

" _Mwa ha ha! Foolish goddesses! Tremble in fear! I'm finally back!_ "

Materializing in the middle of the dark tornado of particles was a blonde man of no significant stature, with two red markings on his forehead and a five pointed star on his cheek; giving him a demonic appearance which was further enhanced by the dark outfit he was wearing.

"Wait a freaking moment!... You're not a _real_ demon!" said Urd, narrowing her eyes at the newcomer as she couldn't shake the feeling that there was something off about him, while Belldandy and Lind exchanged a puzzled look.

"Eh?! Don't tell me you've already forgotten me!" said the intruder in shock. "I'm the one and only... Lord of Terror!"

"Never met you," was Urd quick reply, while the other goddesses decided to nod in agreement, making the blonde man stare at them with a dejected expression.

"What?... Y-You… really forgot about me?" asked the Lord of Terror, before he turned to Belldandy. "Hey! You must remember me, right? I've got your squeeze's body! See?"

Tilting her head, Belldandy scratched her chin in deep thought, while the incarnation of the Ultimate Destruction program pointed at himself with a big grin on his face. "Um… now that you mention it… you do look vaguely familiar for some reason."

"Right! I'm using your boyfriend's body, so…" started the Lord of Terror, before his cheerful smile turned into a wicked grin. "You're going to protect me, like last time, right?"

"Sorry, but I won't."

"Eh?! B-But, I'm!... I'm your..."

"I'm afraid I have no idea what you're talking about," said Belldandy, interrupting the protesting man without any hesitation. "However, even if what you said was true, I fail to see what you're trying to accomplish here."

"Oh, that's really simple! I'm going to take over Yggdrasil and then rewrite Midgard into my version of the perfect world! With me as the ruler, of course!" laughed the blonde; or at least he tried, before ending up in a coughing fit.

Letting a sigh, Urd pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration after she discreetly ran a check on him in her terminal and by the looks of it, there was indeed some illegal program by that name, although according to the reports it was deleted a long time ago. However there was indeed one detail about it that caught the half goddess' attention: their names were actually mentioned in the file, yet she had no recollection of the event whatsoever. Furthermore, this did bring back some of Skuld's earlier arguments about them living in a place called Nekomi along with a guy who was apparently Belldandy's boyfriend, too. "Hold on, shorty!"

"Hey! Who are you calling _shorty_?" barked the Lord of Terror, looking away from Belldandy who kept staring at him with a puzzled expression.

"You, of course!" said Urd with a grin, getting up from her chair after she locked her terminal. Taking a few steps towards the blonde, the half goddess made sure to act as casual as possible, even though she treated him as much greater threat now. Anyone who had the ability to possess others were a real pain to deal with, since they often tried to use others as hostages and his short exchange with Belldandy hinted that this was going to be the case here as well. "That guy you're talking about… It couldn't happen that he's called, Keiichi, right?"

"Exactly! Heh… I thought that you were just messing around at first, but… you did forget me and even the boy, by the looks of it. Apparently goddesses don't quite care as much as they like us to believe. Oh, well… who cares? As long as you and your sister remember whose body I'm possessing as we speak, then everything will go according to my plan!"

"Which is?" asked Urd, making the Lord of Terror groan in frustration.

"I said it already! I'll turn Midgard into my perfect world! Which part of it is too hard for you to understand?"

"How about… the fact that you're on your own, while there are so many of us here. Oh, and your little attempt to use that boy as a hostage isn't really working, since none of us remembers _too much_ about him, so… What are you going to do now, _genius?_ "

That actually made the infamous Lord of Terror pause and think about his options. After all, he had to admit that the whole point of trying to get the mortal's soul from Hel was to have what he thought as a bargain chip, since replicating just the mortal's body would've been insufficient to convince them. Only if they felt that losing him for good would motivate them to cooperate, but if that didn't work, he was indeed stuck in a pretty weak body; making this into a terrible idea. 'Damn it all! I knew that I should've tried to create a stronger host for myself! Wait! It's not too late, I can… I can still do it!'

"Hm… Based on that silly expression on your face, I guess you never thought about it as thoroughly as you should."

"Not so fast!" said the blonde, trying to regain his composure. "Who said that I don't have a plan B? Honestly!... I'm not _that_ dumb!"

"Hm… then you admit that you're _kind of_ dumb?"

" _Y-You!..._ Laugh as you want, but I'm not done yet! Far from it! I still have a trump card to play and that's going to give me an edge over you!" said the Lord of Terror as he summoned every remaining bit of himself from Yggdrasil and merged it back on his current physical form. Dark tendrils of power arched around him as the markings on his face started to glow brightly, all while he laughed in an almost hysterical manner. "Behold! My new and improved body!"

"Not to bust your bubble, but… I can't see any difference."

"S-Shut up! I've turned this mortal shell into an Earth Spirit! Now, I no longer have the restrictions imposed to me by my host's body!"

"So, you can cast spells now. Am I supposed to feel amazed?… Because I _sure_ can't say that I am."

" _You're the rudest, most annoying and downright obnoxious goddess I've ever met!_ " shouted the furious Lord of Terror, already tired to head Urd's insults. "Just you wait until I get my hands on the mortal realm and drive both Heaven and Hell to the point of poverty, and _then_ we'll see if you still dare to talk to me like that!"

"As if that's going to stop me! Of course I'll keep making fun of you, oh Lord of Goose Bumps!" said Urd with a giggle, while the aforementioned lord was close to tears of utter frustration.

"Goose bumps? Why you… you… bitch! I'm the mighty incarnation of the Ultimate Destruction Program! The Lord of _Terror_! How dare you mock me like that!"

"Because I can get away with it? I mean, what are you going to do? Cry until I start to feel bad?" laughed Urd, before she offered him a wink. "And I'm not a bitch. As a matter of fact, now that I have a daughter, the proper term would be _cougar_. _Nyarr!..._ "

There was a long pause as the Lord of Terror was apparently at a loss of words, unsure what the bronze skinned goddess was even trying to accomplish by putting this act up; other than piss him off.

Grinning, Urd glanced over at the three sysops who had kept working hard to contain the bug outbreak that was either caused by or merely aided this copy of the Ultimate Destruction Program to reappear. While busy throwing insults to each other, the rest of the goddesses were deploying as many countermeasures as possible and with his full attention at her, the bug outbreak was finally under control; given the thumbs up the three sysops gave to Urd.

'Alright… I think I've done my part as being the decoy. It's probably for the best to wrap things up now and get this sucker deleted once again before he actually manages to do any real damage!'

Almost without warning, Urd's outfit switched from her favorite purple dress to her red combat uniform which was more than enough to startle her blonde adversary and finally alert him that something was off here.

"What the?!..."

"Oh, did I startle you? My bad!" laughed Urd taking a few steps towards the frowning man, with a wicked grin on her face. "In case you've failed to notice, the bug outbreak is under control and that means… that I no longer have to keep you busy."

"Wait! You were doing that on purpose?"

"Well… yes and no," said Urd, scratching the back of her head. "I did try to grab your attention away from what the others were doing, but… It's not like I didn't _enjoy_ that utterly frustrated look on your face, loser!"

"Gr!... You're still making fun of me, but!... I'm a lot more dangerous now that I've got a more powerful body!"

"Get real! An Earth Spirit no matter how strong is nothing compared to a goddess, let alone a first class one!"

"Uh… wait, _what?!_ Who gave _you_ a first class license?! Were they drunk or something?"

" _What did you say, pal?_ "

'Yes! She fell for her own strategy! Once I burn every single amount of power this body has, I can overwhelm her mental defenses and possess _her_ turning me into a _real_ threat! With her dual nature I'll be able to control both Heavens and Hell with me as their leader!'

Turning into a stream of pure energy, the Lord of Terror shot towards the unsuspecting half goddess, ready to use all energy of his current form in order to overwhelm and take over her body, but, he soon realized that things weren't as simple as he had originally planned. Instead of being absorbed, the moment he came into contact with her, it almost felt as if he had ran onto a brick wall.

Being forced back into his solid form, the wannabe possessor ended up in what was most certainly a scene out of a manga, since his face was lodged between the goddess' sizable breasts; something that made the others around them blush.

"Oh my!..." said Belldandy, rushing to cover Brunhild's eyes, despite the little goddess' protests. 'This is kind of strange actually. I mean, I obviously worry about neesan, but… why do I feel so…so… _peeved_ by watching this?'

"Well, well… someone's lusting for conquest… Right, Mr. _Ruler of the World?_ " asked Urd in a sarcastic tone as the embarrassed Lord of the Terror who still tried to figure out why his plan failed so miserably.

"Why did this happen? I was supposed to be inside!"

"Oh my! Saying such… dirty things, and right in front of everyone, too," said Urd, cupping her cheeks in mock embarrassment. "What I'm going to do? A scary molester is after me!"

" _S-Stop saying nonsense! I… I… just want to get inside!_ "

" _Eeek! Pervert!_ "

"I'm not! And don't act like an innocent girl! It's creepy as Hell!"

Before Urd could respond, a gentle breeze started to blow, making the half goddess wonder just what was going on here. With the room sealed, there should've been no wind blowing through the doors, and a quick look at her sister confirmed her suspicions: the middle Norn was staring them with a blank expression while air swirled around her. 'Huh? What's up with her? She looks… _pissed? Belldandy?_ No way!... '

Actually, both Lind and even Brunhild had taken notice of the brunette's rather uncharacteristic reaction to what was taking place, but tried to rationalize it as being a reaction to what was going on, since not even Belldandy herself could explain it.

"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!"

Kicking the main entrance wide open, Skuld, along with Sigel and Peorth rushed into the room, all dressed in their combat uniforms; even the gynoid who wore something similar to the pink and white fatigues of her mistress.

"Alright, what's going on... Wait! _You?!_ I deleted you!" said Skuld, pointing at the Lord of Terror.

"Or so you thought! I'm back and…"

"Failing to take over the world, he's trying a change in career and transform into an STD," said Urd with a giggle, much to everyone's shock. "What? Look at this guy! He's still holding onto me!"

However, that was to change when someone else got hold of the Lord of Terror from behind. Wrapping her small arms around his waist, Brunhild had had enough of this silly looking blonde who kept groping her mother and decided to just do something about it. And to be more specific, one of the moves she had learned from Lind; even if she hadn't tried in practice. " _Hey! How long are you gonna hold on, you pervert?_ "

" _Wha~a-?!..._ "

Using all the power one as young as her could muster, Brunhild launched the infamous body snatcher into what would most certainly described as a German suplex, which took not only him by surprise, but also the other goddesses as well. Slamming his head onto the floor with a sickening thud, Brunhild proceeded to try what her demonic grandmother had advised her to do in a situation like this: kick them while they're down on the floor.

" _Pervert! Ecchi! Hentai! Take this, and that, and…_ "

"Ow, ow! Hey!... Someone stop this brat! OW! _Not in the groin!_ "

While Urd went to retrieve her overzealous daughter, Skuld eyed her other sister carefully and didn't take long to recognize the unmistakable signs of a brewing jealousy storm. While her niece had stopped Belldandy from releasing that torrent or raw energy by separating the Keiichi lookalike from Urd, the goddess of the future had no delusions that the brunette was instinctively reacting to what was going on; meaning that she must've known about Keiichi, although it was likely that she, as well as the others had suppressed their memories of him. 'If that's Keiichi in any shape or form, despite the presence of Lord of Terror… this could be an opportunity. I can't just waste it by blowing him up completely.'

Turning to Peorth who stood next to her, Skuld decided to pull something utterly uncharacteristic for her: purposely cause her sister to get jealous. "Hey, Peorth? Can you do something for me?"

"Huh? Of course I can. After all, you're the Daitenkaicho now, remember?"

"In that case…" leaning closer to her, Skuld whispered something to the rose goddess that made the latter raise an eyebrow.

"Um… for real?"

"Look, I don't want to order you to do this, but… Could you please do it? I think it's what Belldandy needs to remember him."

"You mean… the guy you told me about?"

"Yes! Please, Peorth…"

"Okay, okay! I'll do it." Taking a deep breath, the rose goddess approached the man who was still lying on the floor in pain and smiled at him. "Hello, there cutie…"

"Huh?" Edging away from her, given the fact that she donned a Valkyrie's battle uniform, the Lord of Terror was worried that this might've been an attempt to make him lower his guard before they got rid of him. After all, he had to admit that so far things looked pretty hopeless for him and no matter how optimistic he wanted to be; it was a disaster. There was no way to salvage this situation and the best solution for him was to try and get away with his life; which might had been possible if he used his final trump card. "W-Wait a moment… I… I've got that m-mortal's soul! If… If you try to delete me, he's going down with me too!"

"Oh, I'm not going to harm you," said Peorth with a smile, while she got even closer to the nervous man and before he had the chance to escape, she grabbed the front of his robes and pulled him into a forced kiss, locking lips with the struggling blonde who could only flail his arms around in an almost comical manner.

It didn't last for long, though.

As soon as Peorth pulled away, a powerful surge of divine energy surged through Belldandy's body and before the anyone knew what hit them, a torrent or raw energy hit them. However, the one most affected by it was the Lord of Terror, or rather… Keiichi as his body absorbed it like a sponge, causing the manifestation of the Ultimate Destruction Program to writhe in pain.

Worse, Belldandy's energy was the result of several decades worth of memories suddenly resurfacing and while it had a soothing effect on all the goddesses present, the same couldn't be said about the Lord of Terror. Being almost like a poison for him, it began to destroy the intruder little by little, cleansing Keiichi's body in the process by the presence of that pesky program.

" _No! Not AGAIN!_ "

XXX

"Let me get it straight… Everything was _my_ idea, and… you _knew_ about it?"

Glaring at her angel that was hiding behind a nearby column of the celestial hospital where the group had taken the newly revived Keiichi for a thorough examination, Skuld had still trouble to accept the explanation Noble Scarlet had offered her after the whole incident was officially over.

"B-But, mistress!... It was your explicit orders and as your angel, I had to remain silent and…"

"Go as far as to make me think that the dream I had earlier was real, and I had ended up in some kind of future?"

"I'm really sorry, but there was no other way! We just found out that a tiny fragment of the Lord of Terror had survived and attempted to find its way to Keiichi's file in Helheim and… it was the best excuse to bring him back. Well… as long as that program did all the job and spared us the trouble of doing it on our own, and letting everyone else accuse us for doing Belldandy a favor by bringing her husband back to life. After all it hasn't been long since you became the Daitenkaicho, and there's definitely more than enough celestials who want to cause some drama over this."

"Hm… so the moment Hel tried to access that file, she activated the program that was attached to Keiichi's file? And the whole point was to force me to go to her and initiate everything?"

"That's right! You thought that without most of your memories, you'd definitely want to go and find out what happened to Keiichi, since nobody remembered about him. And buy the way… Hel was also just playing along too!" Said Noble Scarlet, with a big smile. "After all, she's uncle Loki's daughter, so, there was no way to stay out of this conspiracy!"

"Okay… That makes sense, I guess," said Skuld, scratching her chin in thought. "Then… what about Sigel?"

"She was under your explicit instructions to remain quiet and play her role, by offering you all the information you needed without having to log into the system directly and find out about what was going on. While it was possible to remove Keiichi's wish from Belldandy's client list and even hide it from her agency's system, it's all but impossible to erase all traces of a granted wish, despite being the Daitenkaicho. All you could do was hide it very carefully," explained Noble Scarlet. "Even the system vulnerability the Lord of Terror had exploited to change himself or rather… Keiichi into an Earth Spirit as a means to gain a power boost was left there intentionally. I mean… it's convenient, right?"

"Now that you mention it… it certainly is," admitted Skuld after she pondered about the implications of Keiichi's new nature, and above all; his immortality. "Who else was aware of all this?"

"Me."

Nearly letting out a scream, the startled goddess turned around to see her disheveled father stare at her with a tired expression on his face. "Dad? What… happened?"

"Your mother happened," said Tyr with a grunt. "Unlike me, she wasn't aware of anything, given that she too had no memories of Keiichi. So, when I tried to explain the situation to her… she chewed me out. Almost literally, mind telling you."

Looking over his shoulder, Skuld spotted her mother, although… the teal haired goddess didn't seem to be in a foul mood; far from it. Ansuz was apparently flapping her winglets while she was humming a peculiar tune that almost sounded as if she was… chirping. "Uh… is she really okay? I mean, she looks too… _cheerful_ for someone who's supposed to be pissed."

"Oh, she's fine… We already make out... I mean… _make up_ before we came here."

" _Too much information!_ " said Skuld, as she tried to block the mental image of what most likely took place between her parents. 'So that's what she looks like after… doing… _that_. Hold on a second! I've seen her look like this _several_ times in the past and… Wow!…. Mom's _this_ active? Who would've thought it?'

"Mistress!" shouted Noble Scarlet, interrupting the Norn's thoughts. "Shame on you!"

"Hey! I wasn't the one who brought the whole subject up!" objected Skuld. "And speaking of subjects… I still have a really big question. How did everyone forgot about Keiichi?"

"Actually… I can answer that, now that I've started to remember a few things," said Urd with an evil gleam in her eyes as she approached her sister.

"R-Really?" asked Skuld, taking a step away from her, before looking around for a route to the closest exit.

"Yes… It happened when a _certain someone_ used a memory blocking device during one of Keiichi's memorial services. Which more or less made everyone present almost forget everything about him. Thanks a lot, kiddo!" said Urd, narrowing her eyes, but then let a sigh as she relaxed, noticing how nervous her sister was getting. "Although, I don't blame you to be honest. Belldandy took it pretty hard; she barely even smiled after he passed away. I'm probably pissed that you've deleted my memories too!"

"I…"

"In your sister's defense…" started Tyr, interrupting his eldest daughter. "You took it pretty bad too. Especially given how much of a big softie you are, Urd."

"Keep talking and I'm gonna make you babysit Brunhild for the weekend!" threatened the half goddess, which was surprisingly enough to silence her father. Turning back to Skuld, the goddess of the past couldn't help but shake her head. "You know… that was yet another stupid gamble. There were so many things that could've gone wrong and that includes the risk of permanently losing most of your memories! Thankfully, your amnesia is just temporarily and you'll be back to normal in a few days, but still!..."

"Hey, at least I didn't use an anti-proton bomb this time!"

" _Thank goodness for small miracles!_ " was the sarcastic reply, until Urd decided that berating her sister wasn't going to change anything at this point. "Well… at least, I'll have to admit that despite your methods, you did something good after all."

"You mean…"

"Yes, those two," said Urd looking towards Belldandy and Keiichi who were still inside the room where the former mortal was getting some rest as he became adjusted at being an Earth Spirit now. "How about we go and say hello?"

"Um… are you sure they're not mad with me?"

"Who do you think you're talking about? Come on, kiddo! Let's go!"

"I'm not a kid! You're just jealous that my plans work; unlike yours!"

" _I heard that!_ "

XXX

" _Bwa ha ha!_ "

"Very funny, Urd…" Letting out a sigh as he crossed his arms, Keiichi couldn't help but remember just how much she loved to tease others.

"I can't help it! You… you're so f _abulous!_ " Almost doubling over from laughing too hard, the goddess of the past struggled to control herself; especially after she saw Keiichi's new haircut. "You look like Lind with that bang!"

"Oh? And who do you think gave me this haircut? After I woke up, my hair were really long, just like the first time the Lord of Terror possessed me. So, Lind offered to cut them for me."

"I didn't think you'd agree to let her try that style on you."

"Hey, you don't argue with a goddess that uses a _combat knife_ to give you a haircut…"

"Point taken…" said Urd, before she cleared her throat. "Anyway… I think someone here wants to tell you something. Right, Skuld?"

"Huh? Oh! That's… correct…" Looking down as she approached the couple, the youngest of the Norns fidgeted about, trying to come up with a proper apology for her actions. "Oneesama… I…"

"It's alright, Skuld," said Belldandy with a shake of her head. "I'm not mad about the incident back at that memorial service."

"But!... I… I didn't consider your feelings about the matter and…"

"No, I think you're wrong and…" pointing at Keiichi, Belldandy went on. "I've got proof that you meant well, Skuld. So, please… don't feel bad about it. Although… I'd prefer if you didn't go that far with your, well… schemes I suppose."

"Uh…"

"No, seriously," said Urd, nodding in agreement. "Mom called to congratulate you, Skuld. Said she owns you a drink for coming up with something this devious…"

"Thanks… I guess."

"I wasn't actually praising you. But… enough of that. I think we need to set up a proper party for our lovely couple," said Urd with grin, eying at Keiichi and Belldandy.

"Actually, Peorth and Lind said that they wanted to make the preparations for a lovely celebration," said Belldandy with a smile.

"Wait… _what?_ We must hurry give them a hand before there's nothing left for us to do, Skuld! This is our moment to shine!" grabbing her younger sister, Urd dragged her out of the room while Belldandy and Keiichi smiled at the departing duo.

"Some things never change huh?" asked Keiichi with a chuckle.

"I think so. Although… there is one change that I'm really happy about, Keiichi."

"I know… Sorry about being so stubborn, Bell."

"Well, you're here now and this time, old age won't do us part."

Leaning in for a kiss that ended up in a much more passionate one than wither had originally intended, the reunited couple suddenly froze when they noticed that they had an audience.

"Oh, don't mind us! Please go on!" said no other than the Daimakaicho herself with a huge smile on her face, turning to her granddaughter who was being carried piggyback by her poor mother; the… _second_ one at that. "Right, Brunhild-chan?"

"Yay! I want cousins!" said the delighted goddess, as she tried to bounce, much to her mother's dismay. "Did you hear that, mama? I'm gonna have cousins!"

"Hey! Don't move around that much! I don't want to drop you! Urd's going to kill me if that happens," said Mara, before she realized the stunned look she was getting from Keiichi. "H-Hey… why are you staring at me like that?"

"Um… you… she… I mean… How?!" stammered Keiichi pointing between Mara and Brunhild. "Besides… she's a goddess!"

"Oh, that! We've found a convenient way to use what celestial heritage she's got to make Brunhild _look_ like a goddess, so she can stay as long as she wants with Urd," said Mara with a grin. "It's like an amplifier that enhances and projects her celestial signature to the point where everyone else thinks that she's…"

"No, I actually meant about Urd… She's her mother and you're her… mother?"

"Urd's the donor mother, I'm the host mother."

"Eh? Donor? Host? What?..."

"I think this is more than enough for now," said Hild clapping her hands. "Let's go and find Urd-chan before poor Keiichi-kun gets too overwhelmed with all that information."

"Bye bye and don't forget my cousins!" said Brunhild with a grin as she and the two demonesses departed, leaving Belldandy a _very_ confused Keiichi behind.

"Alright… I take that back. Some things _do_ change."

"Technically speaking, they've always been like that, Keiichi. You just… didn't knew about those things."

"Oh…"

Hesitating a bit, Belldandy offered him a sheepish look as she watched his stunned expression. "Say… you don't regret that you're no longer a mortal, right? With the way things are, you'll learn all kinds of bizarre facts about this world that you never knew about and..."

"Nah… I'm good. It may take a while to get used to it, but...as long as I'm here with you, everything's fine. After all…" said Keiichi with a big smile, making the brunette goddess look at him straight in the eyes.

"Yes?"

"That's what I really asked for. To be with a goddess like you always!"

"Yes!"


End file.
